Sen. Adam Schiff says Trump 'broke the law' by firing 18 inspectors general [View all]

Source: NBC News

Jan. 26, 2025, 10:51 AM EST


Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on Sunday blasted President Donald Trump for his decision to fire 18 inspectors general late Friday night and accused the president of breaking the law. “To write off this clear violation of law by saying, ‘Well,’ that ‘technically, he broke law.’ Yeah, he broke the law,” Schiff told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

His comment was responding to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who earlier in the program told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that “technically, yeah,” Trump had violated the Inspector General Act, which Congress amended to strengthen protections from undue termination for inspectors general. “I’m not, you know, losing a whole lot of sleep that he wants to change the personnel out. I just want to make sure that he gets off to a good start,” Graham added.

In a later interview on CNN, Graham defended Trump more forcefully, saying, “Yes, I think he should have done that.” “He feels like the government hasn’t worked very well for the American people. These watchdog folks did a pretty lousy job. He wants some new eyes on Washington. And that makes sense to me,” he added.

But Schiff pushed back on that notion, warning that “if we don’t have good and independent inspector generals, we are going to see a swamp refill.” He added, “It may be the president’s goal here ... to remove anyone that’s going to call the public attention to his malfeasance.”

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/adam-schiff-trump-broke-law-firing-inspectors-general-rcna189327